darren r hill

the creative minimalist

advent noun1 the arrival of a notable person or thing: the advent of television.2 (Advent) the first season of the Church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.Old English, from Latin adventus ‘arrival’, from advenire, from ad- ‘to’ + venire ‘come’. Advent has arrived. Of course, there is a certain irony…
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An overview of my December journal and planner set-up. My Bullet Journal has become more like a bullet journal. However, as I bring everything into one journal I seem to be using more journals! And can you believe it is December already? I hope you are all keeping safe and well? May your planning be…
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A Black Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. Yesterday, we gave thanks for all we had. But then we wanted more. Now the being before us demanded payment. Writing Prompt Expanded This is a special Black Friday Fiction Writing Prompt. Following Thanksgiving, the Black…
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It is a day to give thanks. It may seem like these dark times will never end, but they will. We will look back and say, ‘do you remember when… ‘. Situations change like the seasons. The sun rises and sets, the moon waxes and wanes. A time for all things. New things will come…
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A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore. It should be right where I left it on the cabinet, but it’s gone Writing Prompt Expanded This fiction writing prompt is all about exploring… well, exploring. Or more accurately, exploring a situation that begins with nothing…
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Friday Fiction Writing Prompt exploring the Full Moon
A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

The cloud drifted aside. The light grew gradually. The moon was full. That meant…

Writing Prompt Expanded

The moon orbits the earth and plays a vital role in life on our planet. Its influence can be seen through the gravitational effect on the tides. However, I often wonder what effect this satellite has on our bodies, considering that they are approximately 60% water. This week’s creative prompt is full. It was partly inspired by the knowledge that there was a full moon yesterday. So, that’s why we are here thinking about the full moon.

The challenge in this writing prompt is to decide what effect the moon will have, or, if you are journaling, does have. There are many legends, myths and stories concerning the full moon. For millennia people have been guided by the moon. I use the lunar cycle as a time to set and achieve goals. Here are a few ideas that might trigger your creativity:
- Werewolves or other creatures of the night
- the power of crystals and/or magic
- an unknown energy influence from the moon
- the dangers caused by a high tide
- the timing of a harvest, or fishing trip
I hope this writing prompt enables you to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Inspiration is sometimes thought of as a lightbulb. When lit we are creative. Here is a prompt that contains the light itself, it may be the lesser light in our sky, but it has a significant influence.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story or something a little more grandiose. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original moon image by Gerhard G. from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

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29 January 2021
Full – Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt word. These weekly words, or prompts, are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

Later on this week the moon reaches its brightest moment of its lunar cycle. On Thursday, there is a full moon. Anyone who has followed this blog for a while will know I like to use the moon in my planning rituals and I am fascinated by our local satellite. Therefore…

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Full — containing or holding as much or as many as possible; having no empty space:

this isn’t the only definition of the word but striving to be the creative minimalist, the phrase ‘having no empty space’ resonated

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘full’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. Furthermore, I can already feel it impinging on how I create my music and how I play in my journal.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
24 January 2021
Friday Fiction Writing Prompt exploring shade
A Fiction Writing Prompt to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

It was subtle, but it was there. The red carpet was stained. From a certain angle, the darker shade was clear.

Writing Prompt Expanded

We live in a universe of cause and effect. If we do something, then something happens. It’s why time flows forward for us. And, unfortunately, we can’t at this present time, change that. This week’s creative prompt was shade and so that’s being explored in this writing exercise. Although geared more to fiction, you can easily use this as a journal or self-care prompt: what causes and effects do you need to think about in your life?

To begin you need to explore why the carpet is marked and then decide what you are going to do about it.
- What caused the stain?
- Was it expected?
- What are you going to do?
There are two obvious possibilities that you might want to explore. I did make them pretty unsubtle with the wording of the prompt. A red carpet: could it be blood or could it be wine? But you don’t have to go down the obvious route, in fact, the real creative challenge for writers is to explore the unexpected.

As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story or something a little more grandiose. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Original carpet image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
22 January 2021
Shade – Weekly Creative Prompt
It’s time for another weekly creative prompt. These weekly prompts are to give me, and anyone else who wants to join in, some focus to our creative work.

The first creative prompt was ‘light’ and this week’s prompt is related. We see colour because of light. And light enables us to see colour in all its varieties, which leads me to the prompt.

This week’s creative prompt word is:

Shade — a colour, especially about how light or dark it is or as distinguished from one nearly like it

there are other meanings, but I loved the idea of something being distinguished from another nearly like it

Let the prompt inspire you in any area of creativity that you are interested:
- writing fiction
- art journaling
- songwriting
- journaling
- photography
- painting
- composing
- blog posts
- art therapy
- anything that could use a little nudge to begin
I now have ‘shade’ written on the board above my computer. I am confident it will inspire me on my creative journey this week. At the very least, it will remind me that things are rarely black and white, there are colours and there is shade.

As mentioned before, this isn’t a ‘challenge’ but the prompts can be used that way if you want. If you do create anything using them, I would love to see or hear about it. Leave a link in the comments below or tag me @darrenrhill or #thecreativeminimalist on any social platform.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
17 January 2021
Hope in myself

This week I have had the word ‘hope’ above my desk. It is my creative prompt for the week. The creativity has been a bit scarce, so I’m not certain if it has helped.

However, I did open the journal and write and doodle and think around ‘hope’. It was, as always, an interesting time, exploring an idea and concept in the journal. The ability to step back and think about things is the reason I journal. And the blank page is the ideal place to just explore and see where an idea or thought will take me.

Today I ended up realising that my biggest hope at the moment should be to believe in myself. I should believe in my abilities and skills and creativity. To believe in myself is to actually be myself, my true self; to believe and be.

Sometimes this feels so close. All I need to do is climb over a little ledge before me. At other times it feels like I need to cross a chasm. And it is a chasm that feels too wide. In fact, so wide I can’t really tell if there is another side, it is obscured in the darkness or by the mist.

But I hope. I hope that I will believe in myself. That I will be. And I hope that you can be the person you need to be. Explore what you hope for in your journal, you never know how close your hopes might be to being realised. Take care my friends x.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest

16 January 2021
Friday fiction writing prompt exploring Hope
A Fiction Writing Prompt exploring hope to stretch the literary muscles. No rules. No word counts. Simply write and explore.

If only…

Writing Prompt Expanded

This is the shortest prompt that I have ever shared and yet, it is also the most open. My general creative prompt for this week is hope. I’ve been looking for signs of hope as I have been working away. So often, especially in the current situation of the pandemic and general uncertainty, I have found myself saying, ‘if only this’ or ‘if only that’, then there would be hope. And so, that is why those words form this week’s Friday Fiction Writing Prompt.

This prompt is all about something that would bring hope. It is completely open to your interpretation. I have put a few ideas below but do let your creative imagination run free.

If only…
- a miracle cure was discovered
- there was enough money for…
- this winter would end
- I could find…
- the phone would ring
As always these writing prompts are optional and entirely open to your interpretation. Use them as a starting point for a short story or something a little more grandiose. If you do write something, please share it or a link, in the comments, use the hashtag #ffwp or tag me @darrenrhill. I’d love to read what you create. Write and enjoy the learning process.

Thank you for reading this post. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
namaste
d
xox

If you enjoyed this post please support my writing by making a donation of any amount.

Sign up for my (ir)regular newsletter to keep up to date with my creative adventures, including special offers, and join me on Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest
15 January 2021